On oceangoing vessels, it is common practice to place outgoing telephone calls from the vessel through a radio officer stationed aboard the vessel in a radio room. In order to place such a call, a calling party will call the radio officer from a cabin or booth to make a request for such a call and the radio officer will request information as to how the call is desired to be routed, for example, via satellite transmission (and if so, via which coast earth station), cellular lines, etc. The radio officer then sets up the call by arranging to get the called party on line, and then calls the calling party back at the cabin or booth to complete the connection. The radio officer then monitors the call and times the call with a stopwatch or other means in order that the calling party is appropriately billed for the outgoing telephone call.
As may be apparent from the foregoing, the placement of an outgoing telephone call from an oceangoing vessel is difficult and expensive. The calling party and radio officer must themselves decide the routing of the telephone calls, and the cost of such calls must be necessarily include the overhead associated with the radio officer.
Accordingly, a need has existed for a device for automating the placement of outgoing telephone calls aboard an oceangoing vessel and for such device to route the call in an economical manner.